Dubious about Region 12's direction

Published 9:57 pm, Tuesday, March 19, 2013

To the Editor:

It's been many years since I first heard the expression "re-inventing the wheel" but never has it had a better application than to the current fiasco in Region 12.

The superintendent has undertaken a program through which, she claims, a final solution will be found to the problem of the decreasing number of students and the increasing costs associated with their educations.

When I attended one of the many meetings she has called, she stated she has numerous boxes filled with studies and documents left by previous superintendents.

It's time she opened the boxes.

According to her rules of engagement, if you don't attend a meeting, you cannot offer an opinion or vote on any of the "choices" for her solutions to our issues. Therefore, if because of illness or any other valid reason, you are unable to attend, your choice may very well be eliminated by the votes of the hardy souls who go on any given evening.

The unfortunate part in this path of diminishing returns is the "choices" that remain are not the choices of the vast numbers of registered voters.

The cost of bringing this issue to the vote of general population is staggering. It's been done before (check those pesky boxes) and it's failed -- more than once.

This person has not reached out to the seniors in our community, even though they form a substantial block of voters.

Those same residents would be substantially impacted if Bridgewater were to become the only town in the state not to have a school.

Interestingly, one of the members of the Board of Education discounts the importance of this statement because no "study" has been made on such an impact.

Really? I'd put money on the fact no "study" has been made on the effects of having a crack house in a neighborhood, but you can guess the consequences.

Common sense says you cannot attract real estate buyers with children to a community without a school.

And seniors are the ones selling their houses.

I'd rather have a root canal than attend another of these meetings, but I'll be there.